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As the buzz explodes over the movie that is taking kink mainstream, there's also a growing wave of concern about the way Fifty Shades of Grey portrays both BDSM itself and a "normal" person's entry into the lifestyle. To quote one of the best pieces on the topic, from The Atlantic: "There are healthy, ethical ways to consensually combine sex and pain. All of them require self-knowledge, communication skills, and emotional maturity in order to make the sex safe and mutually gratifying. The problem is that Fifty Shades casually associates hot sex with violence, but without any of this context." With the record-setting box office, the movie is clearly set to inspire millions to get kinky...but do so without any real knowledge, and with possible damaging consequences.

For the last five years, Gemini and Scorpio, veterans of unique underground events, have also been producing sex-friendlier happenings as House of Scorpio. With its monthly makeout parties, House of Scorpio has become known as the safe, exciting place for couples to begin exploring more adventurous sexual experiences, or start opening up their relationships. Recognizing this, HoS is introducing a new series of workshops in 2015 to help couples in various stages of this process, from those completely new to anything outside of traditional monogamy to experienced kinksters looking for specific techniques or new ideas.

The series, Bedroom Badass, kicks off March 15 with Killer Communication 1. The class teaches how to discover the secrets of your partner's psychological world while building trust and intimacy -- the absolute required foundation for any sexual exploration, and a skillset applicable even to non-romantic relationships. The second Killer Communication class, set for March 29, explores the specific communication issues in sex and play: boundary negotiation, consent, ways to ask for what you want or turn down things you don't, will all be discussed and workshopped. From there, we will explore topics as varied as Seductive Massage, Sensory & Wax Play, How to Talk Dirty, Predicament Bondage and even Knife Play.

The teacher for most of the series is Sean Simpson, who has spent six years teaching at some of the largest events in the kink scene, including Dark Odyssey, Winterfire, and Chrysalis. Sean has trained professionally in psychology, anatomy & physiology, and massage therapy, and privately with experts in everything from wax play to predicament bondage. His full bio is included below. In addition, HoS will invite guest experts in topics ranging from female orgasms to rope bondage.

The first in our new series of relationship workshops, this class is designed to spotlight communication skills and strategies to strengthen and maintain the positives in your romantic, friends or family relationships. You'll learn how to get into your partners' psychological world, understand their patterns, read their non-verbal cues more effectively, and find new levels of appreciation and trust while building confidence in the relationship.

Some topics to be covered:- 36 things you need to know about your partner- The five key ways we show and recognize love and appreciation- How to state your needs clearly and effectively- How to create comfortable boundaries- Knowing the difference between what your partner says and what they mean, and the right questions to ask to know the difference

Without effective communication, no romantic relationship can advance to more progressive states of sexual play, kink or polyamory. If you're interested in taking future workshops with us, we highly recommend starting with this one, as it will give you basic communication skills to build on in the future.

The workshop will include both a lecture and practical exercises, as well as a take-home (or emailed PDF) document with the most relevant notes from the class. We'll also leave dedicated Q&A time at the end of the session to give you time to speak directly to our teacher, and get your feedback on this and possible future workshops. You're also invited to stay for drinks and social time.

Our teacher is Sean Simpson, who has spent six years teaching various classes at some of the largest events in the kink scene, including Dark Odyssey, Winterfire, and Chrysalis. Sean has trained professionally in psychology, anatomy & physiology, and massage therapy, and privately with experts in everything from wax play to predicament bondage. Sean's classes include How to Argue as a Couple, Seductive Massage, Sensory Play, Sensual Wax Play, How to Talk Dirty, Predicament Bondage and even Knife Play. We'll be offering some of these in this series.

Bedroom Badass is our new series of workshops to take couples and individuals through various steps in opening up their relationships, or in exploring more adventurous sexual experiences. We've noticed there are many of you for whom our parties are that exciting first step, and we thought we could help you more along the way by having these small, dedicated, hands-on sessions.